Automatic fuel-feeder



A. ZAMERNIK.

AUTOMATIC FUEL FEEDER.

,APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9. 191B. RENEWED SEPT 9, I919.

Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

. 3 SHEETS- -SHEET 1- 7 w fi 4 3 w w W Y xxx Q. o w w w i M 2 4 g 9. 5 MK 7 4 z i u E Z M k \\\E J E a 69 a J 44 WITNESSES ATTORNEY A. ZAMERNIK.

, AUTOMATIC FUEL FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.Q,1918' RENEWED SEPR 9,1919.

' ,335, 6 Patented Mar.30,1920.

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INVENTOR WITNESSES A71$ew Zamernz ATTORNEY A. ZAMERNIK.

, AUTOMATIC FUEL FEEDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9. I918. RENEWED SEPT. 9, 1919.

1,335,265. P en Mar. 30, 1920.

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ANDREW ZAMERNIK, OF GHEEN, MINNESOTA.

AUTOMATIC FUEL-FEEDER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

PatentedMar. 30, 1920.

Application filed March 9, 1918, Serial No. 221,480. Renewed September 9, 1919. Serial No. 322,722.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, ANDREW ZAMERNIK, a citizen of the United States, residin at Gheen, in the county of St. Louis and tat of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Fuel-Feeders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has relation to wood burning stoves, and has for an object to provide a self feeding mechanism therefor.

Another object of the invention is to provide a self feeding mechanism for wood burning stoves, whereby to supply fuel thereto with means for automatically supplyingfuel controllable by means operating after each supply of fuel is consumed.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wood burning stove of a specific construction having embodied therein an automatic fuel feeding mechanism, which includes a movable grate, a fuel magazine, and means operable by movement of the grate as each supply of fuel is consumed for withdrawing an additional supply of fuel from the magazine, and introducing the same into the stove.

In addition to the foregoing my invention comprehends improvements in the details of construction and arrangement of the correlative parts to be hereinafter more fully described and particularly set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawingsin which similar and correspondingparts are designated by the same characters of reference throughout the several views in which they appear Figure 1, is a view in transverse vertical section taken through a wood burning stove and automatic feeding mechanism constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 52, is a view thereof in rear elevation and Fig. 3, is a view of the stove and mechanism in longitudinal vertical section.

ith reference to the drawings 10 indicates the stove proper which may be rectangular, having a smoke outlet 11 at one end and a draft opening 12 at its other end. The top of the stove is provided with a movable cover. which is pivoted upon a longitudinally extending rod 13. The forward edge of th'ejmovable top which is designated 14, is

counterweighted as at 15 and downward movement of said front edge of the cover is limited by engagement with the top edge of the front wall of the stove whereby, if the rear edgeof the cover is depressed and released it will be returned to normal horizontal position. A shield is extended across the front and ends of the stove adjacent the top as indicated at 16.

Taking into consideration the fuel magazine, the same consists of an u wardly and rearwardly inclined wall 17 havin its lower edge coincident with the upper e ge of the rear wall of the stove, said wall .17 being supported at each end by means of a pair of V upwardly inclined cleats 18 secured to the rear wall of the stove, said cleats being in turn braced through the provision of braces 19 which extend down to the floor. End guides 20 are provided at the end of the wall 17, and the forward edges of said end member 20 are connected by means of transverse slats 21 whichin turn support downwardly inclined slats 22 to form guides for the fuel which is indicated at 23 and Which may be in the nature of a block of wood of uniform cross section and ofa length corresponding to the length of the stove.

A shaft 24 is provided in the rear of the wall 17 at a point intermediate its height and journaled at its ends in the cleats 18. A

handle 25 is secured to Said shaft whereby to rotate the same, and a pair of arms 26 are secured to the shaft in spaced relation to extend radially therefrom, with the outer ends of said arms pivotally connected to pawls 27 which slide in openings in said wall 17 of the magazine, and to extend beyond the front face thereof to support the blocks of fuel 23 which are arranged in the magazine in superposed relation, the pawls 27 supporting the lowermost block. An arm 28 is mounted centrally of shaft 24 with a coil spring 29 connected at one end of said arm and at its other arm to the wall 17 of the magazine whereby to urge the pawl 27 forward.

Mounted to the rear of and at the lower edge of the wall 17 of the magazine is a roller 30, journaled in the cleats 18 and of of teeth 31 in each series. I

The roller is cut away at a point intermediate its ends to form a plurality of ratchet teeth 34 for engagement with the upper end of a pawl 35 which is located behind the stove and is mounted for oscillation upon brackets 36 mounted u on the rear wall of the stove, the lower ent of the pawls 35 projecting below the bottom of the stove. An arm 37 is secured to the pawl 35 to support weights 38 designed to retain the upper end of the pawl 35 in engagement with the teeth of the roller 30. A shield indicated at 39 is pivoted adjacent the upper end of the pawl 35 whereby to prevent the blocks of fuel from catching in the upper end of said pawl to prevent its operating. 1

A pair of longitudinally spaced guides 40 are provided beneath the stove to guide for transverse movement a bar 41 having its rear end pivotally connected to the lower end of said pawl 25. The bar 41 is held within the guide by means of a gravity operating bar 42 pivotally mounted as at 43 whereby to support said bar. 7

A bell crank 44 is mounted within the guide 41 with onearm 45 thereof adapted to engage the front end of the bar 41, and

' its other arm46 connected to the lower end of a vertical rod 47 which is disposed in the front of the stove. The'lower end of said rod-47 is connected to one end of a coil spring 48, the other end of said spring being secured to one of the guides 40 whereby to urge said rod 47 downward to move the bar 41 rearward and consequentlytends to unseat the upper end of the pawl 35 from engagement with the ratchet teeth 34 of the roller 30. A grate bar 49 is mounted for vertical oscillation upon a pivoted point 50 and to extend downwardly and rearwardly into the stove, an arm 51 being secured to the grate bar 49 for oscillation.

therewith, said arm 51 being pivotally connected to the upper end of the above men tioned rod 47. It will be noted that the spring 48 acts to maintain the grate bar 49 in a position to extend transversely of the stove and entirely thcreacross. The lower or rear end of the grate bar 49 is movable adjacent a pair of wedge-shaped teeth 52 mounted upon the rear wall of the stove for a purpose which will be presently noted.

In use, the magazine is filled by arranging the blocks therein in superposed relation, the blocks being supported by means of the pawls 27f Assuming that a block of wood is within the furnace, the grate bar 49 will be held in a depressed position. The handle 25 is then moved rearwardly to rotate the shaft 24 whereby to withdraw the pit-W127 from beneath the lowermost block to permit said block to descend and rest upon a pair of the long teeth 31 of the roller 30, the pawls 27 being again moved toward the front to support the blocks of fuel.

As the block of fuel within the stove is consumed, strain upon the spring 48 is gradually relieved, and when the fuel has been consumed to a certain point, the rod 47 at the front of the stove will be moved downward thereby rocking the bell crank 44 so as to move the bar 41 rearward, thereby oscillating the pawl 35 so as'to withdraw its upper end from engagement with the ratchet teeth 34 of the roller 30. The roller 30 is thus permitted to rotateu-nder the in fluence of the weight of the block resting upon its pins 31 and the block is thus deposited upon the rear edge of the cover 14 of the furnace, depressing said cover so as to permit the block to fall into the stove and rest upon the grate bar 49, depressing the same to original position. During rotation of the roller 30 in the manner stated above a set of the pins 32 is brought into engagement with the arms 33 of the shaft- 24, thereby partially rotating said shaft so as to withdraw the pawls 27 from beneath the next block of fuel in the magazine, to permit said block to fall upon the next presented set of pins 31 of the roller 30 for subsequent introduction into the stove. It will be noted that the teeth 52 within the furnace serve to direct the block of fuel against the. grate bar 49 to insure depression ofthe same.

It will thus be seen that I have provided a self feeding mechanism for a wood burn- .ing stove wherein the depressed block of fuel is automatically fed into the furnace when the fuel therein is consumed to a predetermined point, so as to constantly keep the fire burning without attention except to occasionally remove the ashes. The mechanism is furthermore simple in its construction, most of the parts being located exteriorly of the stove so as not to be affected by the heat.

While I have illustrated and described my invention with some degree of particularity, I realize that in practice various alterations thereover may be made, and I therefore, desire to reserve the right and privilege of changing theform of the details of construction, or otherwise altering the arrangement of the correlative parts without departing from the, spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

loo

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A fuel feeding mechanism including a magazine for superposed fuel units, slidably mounted pawls to support the bulk of the units, resilient means urging the pawls into active position, a roller, one set of pins thereon to serve a single unit, a second set of pins thereon to retract said pawls, means for checking rotation of the roller, a movable grate, and means operable by its move ment to release the check on the roller.

'2. A fuel feeding mechanism for wood burning stoves, including a gravity feed magazine to contain a plurality of fuel units in superposed relation, means for support- .ing the bulk of the fuel, a roller mounted for rotation, a plurality of radial pinsmounted thereon in position adapted (to support a single fuel unit upon certain of said pins, releasable means for checking the roller against rotation, a movable grate bar within the stove, and means operable by movement of said grate bar to release the checking means whereby to permit a single fuel unit to enter the stove.

3. A fuel feeding mechanism for wood burning stoves, including a gravity feed magazine to contain fuel units in superposed relation, slidably mounted pawls to support the bulk of the fuel, a shaft, arms on said shaft pivotally connected to the pawls, resilient means urging the pawls into the position stated, a roller mounted beneath the shaft, radial pins on said roller.

whereby longitudinally alined pins may serve a single fuel unit, an arm on the shaft, a second set of pins on the roller to engage said arm to rotate the shaft, means for checking rotation of the roller, a movable grate bar in the stove, and means operable by movement of the grate bar to-release the check on the roller to permit the single fuel unit to enter the stove, a subsequent unit being released by movement of the pawls caused by engagement between the second set of fingers and the arms of the shaft, said released fuel units being supported upon the next set of pins of the roller.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

.ANDREVV .ZAMERNIK.

-Witnesses: v v Y FRANK GAUzn,

ORESTE BALDRUA. 

